GIVEBACK PROGRAM

Fostering a thriving local community is a natural extension of Nossa Familia’s roots and is an essential component of realizing our company mission and living our Core Values. We know that giving back to the community we live and work in builds lasting relationships, deepens our purpose, and makes things more fun for all.

In 2015, we donated over $25,000 in cash and product donations to local organizations and non-profits in Portland. In 2016, we donated over $31,000, about 15% of our total profits for the year. (View our Sustainability Report for the full breakdown of numbers).

HOLIDAY GIVEBACK

FESTA HOLIDAY BLEND

In 2016 we launched our Festa Holiday Blend - a delicious blend of beans stemming from three of our closest farm partnerships - which not only served as a fantastic coffee for the Holidays, but also gave back to our friends and farmers at Finca San Jose de las Nubes in Nicaragua. In addition to the $1500 we donated to them, we donated an extra 50¢ from every bag of Festa sold to support a nutrition and clean kitchen project. We are pleased to bring back this Holiday Blend in 2017, to continue the giveback tradition in supporting the construction of Finca San Jose de las Nubes' community kitchen space.

Our COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Full Cycle

In the interest of supporting and promoting our other love, cycling, we’re proud to donate 50¢ for each bag of Full Cycle sold to local cycling nonprofits. The Street Trust (formerly the Bicycle Transportation Alliance) and the Community Cycling Center are the current recipients of all donations generated through Full Cycle retail sales.

Central City Coffee

Central City Coffee sources, roasts and sells coffee as a means to support the mission of its parent organization, Central City Concern. They work to provide solutions to ending homelessness and achieving self-sufficiency, including teaching transferable job skills to help formerly homeless individuals find and retain employment. Nossa Familia is proud to store and roast Central City's coffee, as well as donate production space in our 13th Avenue facility. We also occasionally partner with them for events, and feature their coffee at our farmers markets and in the Nossa Espresso Bar.

Community Vision

Community Vision, Inc works to make Oregon a place where all people with disabilities can live, work, and thrive in whatever communities they choose. They offer a network of services, including supported living, homeownership, asset development, youth programs and employment services. For several years Nossa Familia has partnered with Community Vision to offer work to participants of their Employment Connections Program. This program pairs people with disabilities who are seeking employment and skill development with businesses who have a need for workers – the perfect match.In early 2018, we are thrilled to be opening a cafe in their brand new headquarters, a four-story office building at 1949 S.E. Division St.

P:ear

Since 2013 Nossa Familia has been working with p:ear, a non-profit dedicated to building positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art, and recreation. Nossa Familia facilitates the p:ear Barista School, which teaches youth the science and art of preparing and serving coffee. In addition to focusing on the tools necessary to become a barista, this eight-week course also incorporates significant job and life skills, identifies the students’ aspirations and self-defined goals, and provides them with resources upon graduation, including letters of recommendation and certification. Beyond just a creating a safe and welcoming environment for the youth, this program offers consistent, on-going mentorship and creative support. The p:ear barista school helps to build new patterns of behavior, break isolation, work to get kids off of dangerous dependencies, and create opportunities for economic gain and healthier lives.

Quarterly Featured Community Partners

In 2016, Nossa Familia Coffee selected local nonprofits to spotlight as our Quarterly Featured Community Partner in order to strengthen community ties and promote meaningful connections with our neighbors. We supported these organizations with coffee for their events, financial contributions through our Espresso Bar, staff volunteer time, and some fun coffee education!

GIVING BACK IN OTHER WAYS

Employee Volunteer Time

Nossa Familia encourages volunteering as a way to strengthen community, internal staff relationships, and personal growth for individual employees. To help enable our employees to volunteer in the community, we offer 16 hours of paid volunteer time annually to all permanent employees and organizes staff volunteer days.

Educational Tours & Cuppings

If there’s one thing we can’t talk about enough, it’s coffee. At Nossa Familia, we’re all about the connections that coffee inspires and the friendships that result. We love to share our coffee knowledge with others, welcoming people into the exciting world of cupping and educating people about where and who coffee comes from. Every Tuesday at 12:00 we offer a free public cupping/roastery tour, in which you can see roasting in action, navigate through our pallets of green coffee, and learn about the process of cupping coffee. For information on additional cupping and coffee-class options, please see our Classes page.

REUSE & RECYCLE

At the Nossa Familia roasting facility we routinely amass: burlap coffee sacks (great for weed suppression and bed edging); grain-pro agricultural bags (strong, gas-barrier plastic bags); pallets (building a compost bin, anyone?); and coffee grounds – these typically go directly into our compost, but we can bag grounds over the course of a few days for you. If any of these items are of interest to you, please email general@nossacoffee.com with your specific request to determine what is available and coordinate a time for pickup.